Senior staff who refused to engage with the largest maternity scandal in NHS history should be hauled before Parliament, former health secretary Wes Streeting has said.
The review of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust found hundreds of babies and mothers suffered avoidable harm.
As part of her review, Donna Ockenden said 66 former and current senior NUH colleagues were approached, with only 35 interviewed. Streeting said the “cowardice” of those who had declined to take part was “an insult”.
Whistleblower Jack Hawkins – whose daughter Harriet was stillborn – said he understood the sentiment, but questioned whether Parliament was the right forum for further inquiries.
Streeting, who resigned as health secretary in May, wants anyone who refused to give evidence to Ockenden’s inquiry to appear before MPs on the health and social care select committee.
In a letter addressed to committee chair MP Layla Moran, which has been seen by the BBC, Streeting said: “Their cowardice is an insult to the Nottingham families.
“Having sat and listened to those parents recount their harrowing experiences, of harm and bereavement, I find it simply unconscionable that people who worked for the NHS would deny them an honest account of what went wrong and why.
“This is indicative of a cover-up culture in the NHS that must be brought to an end. I am writing to ask you to use your powers as chair of the health and social care select committee to summon those who refused to give evidence to Donna Ockenden to explain their actions before Parliament.
“If the threat of being held in contempt of Parliament is necessary to force those in positions of power to be accountable, then so be it.”
Select committees can compel witnesses within the UK to attend and answer questions, according to the Institute for Government think tank, external.
